2023 - Retrospective from a BMS team member
-
Best Wishes for 2023!
First, let me start by wishing everyone an happy end of year 2023!
As a sort of tradition, I wanted to have a sort of restrospective for this year and BMS and share also where I stand…
I don’t consider this thread as being representative of the full team but it will for sure resonate with a couple team members!
The year of 4.37
2023 started with 4.37.0! To be honest, not the best moment to remember for me as I was pushing the release button at 3AM on a Dec 31st, in my bed with high fever and COVID-19…
Over the last months, this version has turned less into the last page of a chapter but more as a cliffhanger for the future…
BML, new shaders, improved engine, back porting some features of 4.38 into it…This became more than what we ambitioned but I don’t consider it neither good or bad, but more as a transition needed by the team.
The year of change
The Infrastructure
I invested a lot into stuff that you guys don’t see:
- New infra
- New installer
- New updater
- New distribution system
- New tools for the team
It is hard to post an efficiency result on top of those major changes but it was needed to allow better coordination, better collaboration, better sharing of assets, better security, …
The team
All the changes above did shift the team into a new paradigm…
New tools means:- New way of working
- New processes
- New habits
- New people
On one side, this had to be done to keep up the game and team to the right level but ome old timers did get overwhelmed and discouraged…
We saw big internal contributors leaving slowly and new faces popping up.
I made mistakes in that process, learned but still continue…The team is at a crossroad where the first generation is slowly retiring and the new guys come with fresh ideas (but not always to the liking of old timers )
Honestly, that’s life! We’re a team, people come and go but as long as there is respect amongst members, there is nothin much to fear…The opportunity
Not much to say here as you are all aware that we have good communication with Microprose and we intend to continue having!
We’re just feeling less constrained as we were before and that’s better for everyone.
What’s next?
BMS wise
Well, there will be a U4…
I won’t get into much details but you already know that we’ll try to push L16 with it (although I can’t make a promise on it since I’m not the one coding it )
I really don’t have a clue if 4.38 will see the light in 2024 after U4, a lot of energy will shift into it!BMS Team
The team is growing slowly but surely…
It comes with challenges though:- Onboarding new people is hard due to the lack of time of existing members and can be discouraging
- Some joined with the right intentions but couldn’t commit to contribute… Which is a burden for those who need to cover…
- Our beta testing team is shrinking but compensated by better code review…
Let’s stop on the beta testing part, it is definitely a weak point currently but…
Being part of the hiring process, we have a lot of people who want in for 4.38 access and the fancy stuff but don’t deliver in the end (I am not pointing fingers, it is just the reality of it)… So what do we do?Well, either count on the small team we have and extend to more time framed semi-public testing for more mass feedbacks…
Or we extend the beta testing team but with a better structure and coordination leaders…I have been trying to push for that second option but that just doesn’t really work given that we are all here for free and it is not a job…
So, time will tell (and please, don’t feel obliged to apply for beta-testing, I am burned over the topic and I will be super picky on candidates so if you don’t understand BMS data, the structure and don’t communicate regularly with dev, just forget about it)Me in all of this?
Well, I am still a bit too much everywhere… Which I am not going to complain about
I will probably try to delegate more internally and focus on infra and community a bit more (if time permits)2024, will be challenging are we have increased our release cycles and I will need to automate much more if I want to keep up
Anyway, enjoy this end of year, and stay tuned for U4 and more info!
Cheers
-
Hi Max!
New timers will do some of the same mistakes as the old timers did years ago, and will (certainly) eventually comes to the same conclusions at the very end once they will have experienced the same mental process and (+/-) bad and/or positive experiences again.
As you said, this is a normal evolution and learning process. That’s life.Well done guys!
Happy new year and all the best!!!
-
From the depths of our hearts, our wing and I especially want to thank you for all the hard work of more than a decade and all the effort put in by the BMS team, old and new who come to replace the veterans, this is the cycle of life, the endless cycle.
But especially I want to mention a new and not so new talent acquired by the development team, a raw diamond who with his wisdom and patience takes care of us like a big brother, I am talking about our friend @Seifer, loved by the entire community and by each member of our wing. Far away in the south wherever you are brother, a big hug.greetings.
-
@MaxWaldorf Greetings Max!
i just wanted to say thanks for your hard work and keeping the legendary of Falcon Alive with the Great Torch Of BMS.️
wishing you and all developers/contributers happiness and prosperity in the year ahead.
happy holiday.🫡
farazparsa -
Many thanks for all of the hard work that has been put into BMS over the years, by all members of the BMS team, past and present!
This simulator has brought me much happiness and satisfaction, and I am very grateful for your work, @MaxWaldorf , and for the work of all the devs
-
You all are absolutely amazing. Thank you, devs.
-
First of all a big thanks to everyone involved in the continues development of BMS. From my point of view we, the community does not need a new version every year. It needs the love and there are so many things that needs to be checked every time a release candidate finds the way to us. I need it to be a stable version and that’s about it. I know that there is a lot of hard work being done away from the community’s prying eyes. The amount of work and coordination needed to do this is mindblowing. For that the BMS team has my deepest respect and it’s hard to believe that it’s all done for free. So 4.38 is eagerly awaited, sure, everyone loves an update, but for me personally, I would rather wait so bugs and the like are cleared before we as the end users get our hands on it. I’m fully aware that a 1000+ players are finding bugs much easier than what any beta tester team will be able to find. So I wait with patience and enjoy what is available now. I’m still amazed that even if I have been flying Falcon since 1999, I still keep learning every time I fly.
Keep walking the path BMS dev team. The future is looking bright and good things will come out of all the work put into this great sim. Take your time…
-
@MaxWaldorf
I thank all the newcomers, they have been and will be a breath of fresh air for BMS…
I hang in there… an old bear has a thick skin
but… I thank you Max for all your patience !!!happy new year !!!
@VIPER-0 said in 2023 - Retrospective from a BMS team member:
But especially I want to mention a new and not so new talent acquired by the development team, a raw diamond who with his wisdom and patience takes care of us like a big brother, I am talking about our friend @Seifer, loved by the entire community and by each member of our wing. Far away in the south wherever you are brother, a big hug.
-
Thanks for your thoughts and sharing. I could imagine how challenging the overall situation is and wish everybody good luck in moving things forward. Having worked kn such teams professiobally myself and experiencing the old/new guys fluctiation and associated challenges I can well imagine how it feels.
-
Thanks Max to you and all the BMS Team for your passion and commitment!!
-
Hello and thank you for the work done, the Italian VSG community thanks the entire BMS team for their effort and passion, giving our community hours and hours of activity.
-
Thanks for your dedication and transparency. BMS has been a way of life for me.
-
@NIL said in 2023 - Retrospective from a BMS team member:
From my point of view we, the community does not need a new version every year. It needs the love […] For that the BMS team has my deepest respect and it’s hard to believe that it’s all done for free
Well said, how true!
I have been flying around with Falcon since 1999 as well, having seen the huge progress from the early beginnings until now. It is amazing what has been done by all the developers so far, especially since 2011. Despite I am not posting that much, I wish the whole BMS Team and the community that all their wishes come true for the next year (and no, I don’t mean 4.38 or Falcon 5.0 only )
-
Hi Max,
The huge amount of appreciation I have for you and all the developer members is hard to express.
A large amount of my life is revolving around the simulator I have build over the years.
And signs are there that 2024 is going to lift things to a whole new level.The coming of 4.38 is highly anticipated, since it will probably coincide here with new things related to the simpit.
Never expected this passion could go so far, and much of it is thanks to all the developers.Wishing everyone here a spectacular 2024 and dreams do come true
Ralph “Catcher”
-
2023 and the devs bringing VR into BMS has really changed the sim for me. I’ve resisted VR and building a fighter-specific cockpit for years and BMS broke that resistance the moment they brought in VR.
Curse you BMS devs!!!
In all seriousness, anything that makes life easier for devs, anything that brings progress to the game is a good thing in my book. Falcon 4 Allied Force was a great game, the mountain of development that has gone into BMS to even improve on that experience is simply mind boggling!
All the best to the BMS team and the BMS community in 2024 and beyond! Happy New Year everyone!
-
@Atlas said in 2023 - Retrospective from a BMS team member:
2023 and the devs bringing VR into BMS has really changed the sim for me. I’ve resisted VR and building a fighter-specific cockpit for years and BMS broke that resistance the moment they brought in VR.
Curse you BMS devs!!!
In all seriousness, anything that makes life easier for devs, anything that brings progress to the game is a good thing in my book. Falcon 4 Allied Force was a great game, the mountain of development that has gone into BMS to even improve on that experience is simply mind boggling!
All the best to the BMS team and the BMS community in 2024 and beyond! Happy New Year everyone!
Falcon AF has never been a source for BMS, quite the opposite actually ……
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2WKGzHTS65rd251TU1LMU1jWFk/view
Source has been « stolen » by a few who made a commercial agreement with IP holder without agreement with the other developers (us basically). They released Falcon AF and made the IP holder send us a C&D letter that forced us to go underground for years.
Talking about Falcon AF is Taboo here
-
@Mav-jp said in 2023 - Retrospective from a BMS team member:
Falcon AF has never been a source for BMS,
Yes, I know that. I was just highlighting the difference for us, the virtual pilots, from AF to current-day BMS — not implying one led to the other.
@Mav-jp said in 2023 - Retrospective from a BMS team member:
They released Falcon AF and made the IP holder send us a C&D letter that forced us to go underground for years.
Talking about Falcon AF is Taboo here
That bit I didn’t know about. Sorry about that!
-
May this year 2024 would be with less real wars, and more BMS campaigns
-
@vAiCon said in 2023 - Retrospective from a BMS team member:
May this year 2024 would be with less real wars, and more BMS campaigns
Agreed 100%
-
@vAiCon May 2024 bring peace to Israel.